Hi-fi CDP vs. DAC + entry CDP

A good one box player SHOULD beat seperates IF properly designed and executed. Shorter signal path, less cabling, lower jitter, etc... are all common sense reasons why this should hold true. However, many designs are not well executed and don't take advantage of the benefits that do exist. This is not to mention that many one box units are built to an overall lower price point i.e. use lower grade parts, smaller and fewer power supplies, are not sensibly laid out in terms signal path, etc... Given these variables, you can end up with a hit or miss situation on either a one box or transport / DAC combo. Sean
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Some of the even cheap integrated CD players have excellent transports. Not sure about Cambridge, but this is the case with CAL which you can get realy cheap right now.

Monkeyking, like Sean says, it's hard to give hard & fast rules here. I wanted to upgrade my Cambridge CD4se and after some comparisons, bought an Assemblage 2.7 Platinum dac to use with the Cambridge. This combo produces much better sound than Arcam and Conrad Johnson single box players of equivalent cost that I compared it to. You just have to try what you can in your system and see what works for you. Good luck, Will.